1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dispensers for medication such as capsules and pills. It particularly relates to multi-compartmented dispensers for storing and selectively dispensing at least one pill at a plurality of intervals during a succession of days.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many containers for storing and dispensing pharmaceutical preparations, vitamins, and minerals in pill, tablet, and capsule form are available. Some, such as blister packs, are not refillable. Others are divided into compartments which are separately accessible and are, for example, openable and closeable by a thin, slide-out lid. Such lids can slide out completely or can snap off; in addition, both the pills and the lids can be lost. Still further, their effectiveness is often dependent upon multi-colored compartments and components. For people with poor vision or no vision and for people with poor color perception, particularly elderly people with little strength in their hands and fingers or with arthritis, a more easily and dependably manipulated device is needed. In addition, storage of a considerable supply of pills and the like is desirable because elderly and handicapped persons may require assistance in loading a pill box, and such assistance may not be available on a daily basis.
As an example of an existing device, U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,242 describes a pill container having a projecting circular base from which a plurality of upstanding concentric flanges and 12 radial flanges project upwardly, thereby providing 24 individual compartments in two circular series. A central area has a central hole for insertion of a pivot pin which is also coaxially inserted through two overlapped cover members, each cover member having a rotation-facilitating tab. One cover member has a pair of openings which are angularly separated by 180.degree., and the other cover member has a pair of openings which are angularly displaced by less than 180.degree.. In addition, the openings in each cover member are regularly displaced from each other so that it is always impossible for more than two openings to be simultaneously aligned.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,681 describes a tape reel container having a pair of plastic body portions interconnected by a separate mechanical lever and sliding and tilting internal lock members cammed to move radially, inwardly, and outwardly to obtain a very strong and positive lock action in order to avoid the major disadvantage of prior devices, i.e., accidental unlocking or releasing. Its non-unitary, resilient prong is concealed behind a closed container and is inaccessible for immediate opening and closure action by external finger pressure of a user.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,672 relates to a pill dispenser which includes an upper, inner, annular tier and a lower, outer, annular tier. Each tier contains a plurality of regularly extending and arcuately spaced, pie-shaped, pill dispensing compartments. A centrally disposed cylindrical opening extends into the center portion of the dispenser for storage of a pill bottle. As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the hours of the day are printed on the doughnut-shaped disk and are visible through the dial covers and the base unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,829 is directed to a tamper-proof container having a visual indicating means of advancing one number for each time the container is opened or closed. It comprises a combination of four members which are essentially a container and three separately rotatable members mounted thereon. The screw top is provided with a skirt which surrounds one member and includes a central longitudinal projection having a boss which is force-fitted through a hole in the indexing member. This indexing member is a rotatable disc having numbers engraved on its upper face and wedge-shaped projections on its upper and lower faces for engagement with a wedge-shaped projection on the upper surface of the one member with a wedge-shaped projection on the lower surface of the other member. The numbers on the indexing member shows the number of tablets dispensed. None of these members is mutually removeable during usage. The face member can only be removed from the container threaded tab by manually holding down a tooth and twisting in an anti-clockwise direction. The removal and replacement of the rotory members is made as difficult as possible in a tamper-proof or child-proof design. The single, upwardly directed tooth on the container is not fixed but is removable by hand for freeing the lid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,301 discloses a multi-compartmented container having two superposed lids, each lid having a single aperture of corresponding shape. Separate safety locking and unlocking arrangements between the lids rely upon the pressing and releasing of top tabs or buttons by an operator. Great stress is laid on locking and unlocking arrangements between the lids, wherein 1) a press tab on the upper disk has to be pushed down against the ridge on an upwardly projecting bar of the lower disk which disengages a bar on the lower disk and 2) a button has to be pressed to disengage the locked together and the superposed plates. More importantly, the covers are not locked in any particular circumferential position. There is no counter-rotational indexing or control means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,742 relates to a medication dispenser which comprises a container member, a first indexing member which is coaxially mounted on the container and rotatable therein, and a second indexing member which is coaxially mounted on top of the first indexing member. The container has a base portion and a tubular central hub with a plurality of partitions extending radially outwardly therefrom to divide the container into seven compartments. Additional radial partitions, intermediate partitions, and an annular partition sub-divide the compartments into smaller compartments. The first indexing member is in the form of a shallow cylinder having a continuous sidewall and a top wall. The sidewall has a series of notches therein, each notch being positioned opposite the center of one of the seven compartments when the first indexing member is placed over the container and is adapted to be engaged by a detent on a locking device. The top wall of the first indexing member has an elongated pie-shaped opening which falls into registry with a selected compartment of the seven compartments when the first indexing member is rotated. The second indexing member is in the form of a circular disk having four segment-shaped apertures, each of which corresponds to one of the subcompartments. The second indexing member is provided with a series of circumferentially spaced detents which are releasably engaged by corresponding protuberances provided in the upper terminal edge of the first indexing member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,834 relates to a latch assembly for a reel container. Specifically, its body has a central, upright post with a mushroom-shaped head at its end. The cover comprises a concentric inner dish-shaped wall into which a latch assembly, including a handle, fits. A latching member also fits within the wall and slideably engages the latch assembly and the head. It comprises a contact surface, which is disposed normal to the top surface of the cover, a hook-like projection, and a U-shaped spring. When the body, cover, the latch assembly, and the latching member are properly assembled, axial pressure apparently causes the projection to engage the head. When sideward pressure is exerted against the surface, thereby compressing the spring, the projection is slid sidewardly and freed from the head so that the cover can be removed from the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,914 describes a pilfer-resistant container having means to indicate to the consumer that the contents have not been tampered with. It is normally inaccessible for continual usage and re-usage because the construction prevents access to contents until a non-replaceable tab has been removed from an access opening. The central, resiliently pronged hub is disposed from the bottom of the body for snapfitting the body and the lid together.
It is apparent that these pill dispensing devices of the prior art do not expose each dosage compartment separately and individually with separate indexing of longer and shorter dosage time interval compartments. Further, they provide no means for making the successive compartments instantly accessible.